Suvana Co-housing Project in Cambridge

On Wed, 12 September, 2018 - 10:46

Sadayasihi

A group of Order Members and Mitras from the Cambridge Sangha have been meeting for about nine months with the vision of creating a different kind of community. They have formed the Suvana co-housing project - ‘Suvana’ meaning ‘happy realm’.

Tejasvini (chair of the project) writes: “We imagine living separately (own front door) but together (in the same street or square), with many other shared facilities.

It will be newly built, sustainable, low carbon footprint, the community inspired by Buddhist values.

There will be a mix of owner occupiers and some flats or houses for rent, some of them affordable, and a few almshouses. We are particularly looking for people who might want to be owner occupiers at this stage. We have about 20 people currently interested and envisage building 25-40 houses or flats.”

If you are interested you can get involved by emailing suvana.cohousing [at] gmail.com for a copy of their vision document and becoming a member (which costs £20). You will also be added to their mailing list.

Responses

Sounds fantastic! :) Good on you all! But I didn’t understand the word ‘almshouses’, what does that mean?

Many kind wishes

Vajracaksu

akasapriya — Thu, 13 Sep, 2018 - 15:21

Hi Vajracaksu,

Almshouses are properties provided out of charity to those who can’t afford housing. ‘Alms’ is a word for charitable giving. It’s a tradition with quite a long history and you can see some pictures of historic almshouses on this page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almshouse

Vajracaksu — Sun, 16 Sep, 2018 - 18:59

Thank you Akasapriya for that. The link you provided offered this little of information about the UK situation:

“Some 2,600 almshouses continue to be operated in the UK, providing 30,000 dwellings for 36,000 people.”

Kind wishes

Vajracaksu

tejasvini — Wed, 19 Sep, 2018 - 08:12

Thanks for your words of support, Vajracaksu. There’s a good bunch of people involved, and we are optimistic and excited about it,

Tejasvini

Vajracaksu — Wed, 19 Sep, 2018 - 08:15

Great :) Wishing you all every success Tejasvini,

Kind wishes

Vajracaksu

Shubhanaga — Sat, 16 Feb, 2019 - 15:31

Hi Vajracaksu

An almshouse is a house founded by charity, offering accommodation for people in need. It is a form of ‘affordable housing’. We are hoping to provide a proportion of the homes at affordable rents for members of Triratna who have given their lives to the movement.

I am an architect, and I am on the steering group for the project, so let me know if you have any further questions.

Best wishes and metta

Shubhanaga

akasamati — Sat, 29 Sep, 2018 - 10:31

I’m so happy to hear that a co-housing project is underway. I’ve long thought this model could provide the next step for community minded people in Triratna to explore. After the waining of the “all together under one roof” model, this seems a natural evolution. So all best wishes for the success of the project.